New version Bitlocker ignores hardware encryption on SSDs

In the future, the new version of Windows 10 will no longer rely on the hardware-based encryption of SSDs by default. Bitlocker no longer accepts hardware encryption in the drives in the default settings.

The changes are contained in update KB4516071 of Windows 10. It does not specifically describe the reason for the change. However, it is speculated in security circles that it is because SSD manufacturers do not properly protect their drives. This would make it possible to bypass disk encryption relatively easily. Last year, for example, researchers at Radboud University circumvented this encryption. Microsoft now wants to take over the security itself.

Although Bitlocker is standard in Windows 10 Pro, it does not work by default on previous versions of the operating system if an SSD is hardware encrypted. With the new update, Bitlocker ignores that encryption and encrypts that drive by default by software.

This would be possible because modern PCs now have enough CPU speed to perform such software encryption quickly without making the computer slow. Users who want to go from hardware to software encryption on their drive will have to decrypt it and then re-encrypt it. Also, users can still set up hardware encryption if they wish; it’s just the default that Microsoft is changing now.